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The Horror Homework interview : Danny Trejo

Not only was I only fortunate enough to meet Danny Trejo recently, but I was also able to sit down with him for a few moments and conduct a small interview as well. You can probably imagine how I felt when I asked for the interview and he suggested that I come and see him the next day. I acted professional in front of him of course, but once I rounded the corner to the elevators, the fan girl in me squealed and danced around.

The thing that I slowly realized when I got back to my hotel room is what kind of questions do you ask a guy who has starred in so many movies with so many people? After about an hour of research though, I come up with a ton of questions but only narrowed it down to these since I knew a lengthy interview would be impossible on such a busy day.

So without any further adieu, may I present my chat with Danny Trejo from Days Of The Dead Atlanta. The first in what will hopefully be a long line of interviews!

Nymphetamine Jade: What made you decide to accept the role in “Runaway Train”?

Danny Trejo: It was an accident. I was offered to train Eric Roberts how to box and then from there they offered me to appear in the movie and I said “Yeah!” so that’s how it happened.

Nymphetamine Jade: How did you and Robert Rodriguez discover you were second cousins?

Danny Trejo: My uncle, Rudy Trejo, they came down from San Antonio to visit me and Uncle Rudy goes, “Hey, there’s Robert!” and we started talking and figured out we were second cousins.

Nymphetamine Jade: What has been one of your favorite films to work on?

Danny Trejo: Oh man, “Machete” was. I would have loved “Machete” even if I wasn’t in it. You know, it’s just a great movie and now “Machete Kills”, it’s gonna be awesome.

Nymphetamine Jade: How was it working with Tom Savini, Fred Williamson, and Cheech Marin in “From Dusk Until Dawn”?

Danny Trejo: Man, it was a lot of fun, we had a blast on that set. Savini had long hair and I had long hair, and everybody kept saying “Man, you guys must have the same hair dresser.” (laughter) That was, like the standard thing.

“I love my job!”

Nymphetamine Jade: You have eight films completed or in post -production right now. Six films have already been announced and you are already filming “Chavez Cage of Glory” as well. What drives you to stay so busy?

Danny Trejo: I love my work, I love my job.

Nymphetamine Jade: Why are most of your characters named after knives?

Danny Trejo: It’s Robert Rodriguez’s thing for my parole. My parole was no sharp objects in your possession. So Robert was just kinda giving the finger to the parole officer.

Nymphetamine Jade: What caused you to start a charity for pit bulls?

Danny Trejo: Man, I love dogs, I just dunno. They really get a bad rep because of their owners. They are some of the greatest dogs ever. What some people don’t realize is that our first American show dog was Petey, from “The Little Rascals” and he was a pit bull. Michael Vick, we got one of his dogs up at Villa Lobos. They have him up in San Francisco now and he is a pet dog now. They have him working with kids that have terminal cancer.